Packaging soap



Patented Nov. 21, 1933 UNITED STATES VPACKAGING SOAP John C. Ingram,Chicago, Ill., assigner to Armour and Company, Chicago, Ill., acorporation of Illinois Application July 18, 1931. Serial No. 551,699 6claims. (c1. 2 6.-46)

My invention relates to the commercial packaging of articles usuallysold in multiple units in cake or bar form. The invention isparticularly adapted to commodities of which soap is typical and isherein used as an exemplication.

The purchaser of toilet soaps, for example, is influenced in hisselection by the appearance and odor. Cellophane is coming to bepopularly used as a wrapper for goods of various sorts by reason of itstransparency, but it usually completely encloses the article and, ifapplied to soap, it precludes olfactory tests. Moreover to wrapcompletely articles of considerable bulk as related to price inflicts anundue percentage of cost, and this is pertinent to the marketing of theless expensive brands of soap as displayed for sale in chain stores andthe like.

For instance, where three cakes oi soap are retailed for ten cents, itis obvious that the cost of .20 collectively packaging the three unitsmust be kept at a minimum by the manufacturer, as the permissible prentdivided between the manufacturer, the jobber and the merchant is verysmall. lt is therefore important that the amountl of wrapper materialused and the labor involved in wrapping be reduced so far as ispossible, consistent with efficient and attractivepackaging.

By my inventon I employ less than half the amount of material necessaryto completely wrap, yet bind the units securely together and at the sametime attain the advantage, over a completely wrapped article, that thecustomer may judge the articles both by sight and smell.

It will be obvious that there are many articles other than scented soapsto 'which the invention is applicable; wherefore soaps are to beunderstood merely as illustrative of its field of usefulness.

In the drawing,

Fig. l represents a commercial package oi soap ioluding three units;

Fig. 2 is a medial section through the longer dimension of the package;and

Fig. 3 is a similar section at right angles to Fig. 2.

Referring to the drawing, it will be observed that the outer soap cakesA have their faces formed in relief or convex as indicated at A1, whilethe interi iediate soap calze B has its faces formed in intaglio orconcave as indicated at B1; whereby when they are arranged asillustrated the convex faces seat within the concave faces, thusbecoming nested and secured against lateral shifting so long as they areprevented from separating.

vIt will be understood that this nesting relationship and consequentsecurity against lateral shifting' may be attained as between two cakeshaving the convex and concave relationship between their adjacent aces;as would be the case if either of the cakes A were omitted from thepackage. It is also obvious that the cakes A and B might be identical,each having a concave and a convex face, so long as the adjacent facesare one concave and the other convex.

Disassociation of the nested cakes is prevented by binding them againstseparation in a direction normal to the general plane of their faces,whereby the interlocking of ltheir faces against lateral shifting isrendered effective; and the employment of a binding wrapper oftransparent material such as cellophane, whether in strip or sheet form,serves also to render the product visible even though completelyenveloped without the edges or ends being directly exposed. Thus thepurposes of the invention are largely served in the attainment of asecure assembly of soap cake units of similar or variant color subjectto visual inspection.

By reason of the nested relationship of the soap cakes it is unnecessarythat the wrapper envelope the units on all sides lto preventdisassociation. It is only necessary that a strip of material enclosethe faces and two edges of the assembly, the ends of the strip beingunited so as to exert a binding action to prevent separation or" .thecakes. The strip is preferably plain or uncoated, that is to say notgummed for adherence to the cakes, as lateral shifting of intermediatecakes is prevented by the nested relationship when the cakes are heldtogether by the strip.

By employing a cellophane strip to bind the cakes together in the mannerillustrated, however the whole of the article is exposed to view, thefaces and two edges through the binding strip and the other two edgesdirectly. The leaving of the two edges, here shown as the ends, eX-posed has the additional advantage that the prospective purchaser isenabled to determine the scent employed, this latter being an importantconsideration in the selection of toilet soaps.

It will thus be appreciated that there is a substantial saving in thecostof material and of labor which would be involved if the package werecompletely wrappeda saving which amounts to between 5% and 10% of theretail price of the goods and consequently a very much larger percentageof saving as measured by the profit to the manufacturer. Moreover, thepackaging of soap in this manner possesses decided advantages over theup marketing of disassociated units or the collective packaging ofmultiple units in the ordinary enveloping wrapper.

I claim:

1. A soap package comprising a plurality of nested unwrapped cakes, theadjacent faces of which are respectively convex and concave` and anuncoated binding strip enveloping the outer faces and two edges, leavingthe other two edges exposed. A

2. A soap package comprising a plurality of nested unwrapped cakes, theadjacent faces of which are respectively convex and concave, and abinding strip of transparent material enveloping the outer faces and twoedges, leaving the other two edges exposed.

3. A soap package comprising a plurality of nested unwrapped cakes,theadjacent faces of which are respectively convex and concave, and abinding strip of cellophane enveloping the outer faces and two edges,leaving the other two edges y exposed.

' and nested'to prevent lateral shifting, and a binding stripencirclingr the assembly to prevent separation, the binding strip beingof transparent 'material vand leaving two edges of the contents exposed.

6. A commercial package comprising a group of individually unwrappedunits having adjacent faces of vlaterally interlocking configuration,and a transparent non-adherent binder for the group extending about thesame to secure the group of units together against separation in adirection normal to the general plane of their interlocking faces.

' JOHN C. INGRAM.

